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Thomas Alva Edison

by Mindy Miller

Introduction: In the town of Milan, Ohio, Thomas Edison (sometimes referred to as "Al") was born on February 11, 1847. Seven years later, Thomas' family had to move to Port Huron, Michigan where his father could become a carpenter and begin supporting his family. You see, Thomas was the last of seven children born into the Edison household.

Back in 1847, there was a small boy who was infatuated with trains of all kinds. Being amazed at the size and the force of a train, this little boy would sit for several hours a day just watching trains travel up and down the track. Whenever this young child would come up missing, his mother would always know where to begin looking - at the train tracks by their little home. I am not talking about any little boy. I am talking about the one and only Thomas Alva Edison.

"Mom, can you please take me to see the trains? I've been a good boy and tried really hard to stay out of trouble", said Thomas. "Thomas, I have to get supper ready for the rest of the family. We will have to go and see the trains tomorrow", Mrs. Edison replied. In tears, and devastated because his mother had turned him down, Thomas ran to the train tracks anyway. He sat there until a train finally came along. As the train continued moving at a great speed, Thomas tried jumping onto it. When the conductor saw Thomas, he grabbed him by the ears and pulled him onto the train. "Ouch!" yelled Thomas, "I just felt something snap inside my ears." The conductor tried to tell him that it was nothing to worry about and began to question the boy as to where he was going. As Thomas began telling the conductor how much he loved trains and how his mother would not take him to the track, the conductor immediately stopped the train and made Thomas walk home.

When Thomas was 10 years old and still in school, the teacher began telling Thomas that he was stupid and could not do anything right. Day after day, Thomas would hear his teacher say that he was not to be considered as one of the brightest students and that he would never be as smart as the rest of the class. As soon as Mrs. Edison found this out, she removed Thomas from school and began teaching him herself. Thomas' mother would give him books to read that she felt would be interesting to her son. Throughout the years of being "homeschooled", Thomas became most interested in books on chemistry and was later allowed to set up a laboratory in his family's home.

Still loving trains, as Thomas continued growing up and becoming more mature, he later moved his laboratory to an empty railcar on the Grand Trunk Railway. One day as Thomas was working, he spotted a little boy who was walking down the railroad tracks. As Thomas began looking around, he notice that a train was coming and was about to run over a little boy if Thomas did not attempt to save him. Thomas jumped out of his railcar and began running toward the little boy. "Look out, Son! Look out for the train!" Thomas cried at the top of his lungs; however, the little boy did not hear a word Thomas said. Finally, Thomas was next to the little boy and swept him from the tracks just before the train ran over him. Because Thomas had risked his life saving this little boy, the boy's father wanted to thank Thomas by teaching him how to use the telegraph. This was the beginning of Thomas Edison's career in developing and inventing many items.

On Christmas Day (1871), Thomas Edison married Mary Stilwell. Mary was 16 at the time and Thomas was 25. Thomas met Mary while working in the Edison's laboratory. As Thomas and Mary continued building their lives together, three beautiful children were born: a daughter Marion and two sons Thomas Alva, Jr., and William. On August 9,1884, Mary died at the age of 29. Approximately two years later, Thomas married Mina Miller. As their marriage continued building, three more children were born: Madeline, Charles, and Theodore.

Throughout Thomas Edison's life, he patented more than one thousand of his inventions. Some of these inventions include: the telegrapher, the electrical vote recorder, the phonograph, the electric light system, the incandescent lights, the motion picture camera, the light bulb, and many more. On October 18,1931, Thomas Edison died at his home (Glenmont) in West Orange, New Jersey at the age of 84. Even though Thomas Edison is gone, many of his inventions are still around; however, what we use today is the upgraded version of the 1800 inventions.

As Thomas became older throughout his childhood years, his hearing got worse and worse. As Thomas and his family began looking back at the things that could have caused him to lose much of his hearing, the only thing they could think of was the conductor pulling Thomas' ears in order to get him onto the train Could this be the reason? Well, no one is really sure what the cause was.

(This particular story is historical fiction)

OUTLINE:

I. Introduction

A. Town

B. Born

II. Young Boy

A. Trains

sizes
shapes

B. Hearing

C. School days

Teacher
Home-schooled

III. Adult

A. Laboratory

B. The "save"

C. Marriage

first wife and children
second wife and children

IV. Inventions - telegrapher, electrical vote recorder, phonograph, electric light system, incandescent lights, motions picture camera, light bulb, etc...

V. Death

PROPS:

pictures of trains,
pictures of Edison’s childhood, adult life, wife and family
a video on Edison
some inventions of Edison
a picture of Edison’s home where he passed away

QUESTIONS:

1. Why did Edison’s mother take him out of school?

answer: His teacher was humiliating him in front of the class and telling him that he would never be as smart as the rest of the students.

2. What could have been one of the reasons Edison lost his hearing?

answer: The conductor pulled him onto the train by his ears causing something inside the ear to snap.

3. Since Edison was taken out of school, who do you think helped influence his life and got him involved in reading a higher-level of books? Why do you think this person helped influence him?

answer: His mother because she was the one who got him interested in reading the books on chemistry, and she also allowed him to set up a laboratory in the basement of their house to experiment.

4. As Edison became older, why do you think he set up his laboratory in an empty railcar? And what was the name of the railcar?

answer: He still loved trains, and it was very peaceful and quite so he could get much of his work accomplished without distraction. The name of the railcar was the Grand Trunk Railway.

5. Why was Edison taught to use the telegraph?

answer: This was the only way the father could repay Edison for saving his son from being hit by the train.

6. What were some things Edison invented and briefly describe them in your own words.